This past Saturday (12/9) I was headed east, back to The Alley. Originally this was supposed to be a weekend trip for about seven other fellow steelheaders. Unfortunately people backed out because of various reasons. One other person was supposed to meet me in the morning but some last minutes issues with the lights for his boat trailer prevented that. Therefore it was just me, driving down the 80/90 interstate at 6:00am. No big deal, I’m definitely an anti-social type anyways.

A lack of rain the last few weeks was going to limit the number of rivers that I could swing a fly on. As it would turn out, icy slush was going to prove to be a bigger problem throughout the day. Just about every place I stopped it was the same story, lots of slushy ice flowing downstream. I started upstream at one access point and worked my way downstream all day long. Most of the time I never saw another angler, the places I did it was the same scenario. Thirty casts for every one that was a decent drift. Not exactly the most productive way to catch a fish. Still I trudged on and made the best of it. I did manage to mark a lot of access points on my phone for future reference. That is one of the great things about the rivers along The Alley, ease of access. The rivers run through a lot of metro parks so all one has to do is find them, park and start fishing. Some are right on the river, others require a bit of a hike. Those are the ones I was looking for since I am a bit of an anti-social type when it comes to fishing. Even then there is no guarantee that I will be alone. I’m not the only die-hard out there.

Though I didn’t catch any fish I did find some some really scenic areas. One spot in particular was really surprising. I was standing at a viewing area overlooking a large marsh. I was just thinking to myself how it would be a great area to sit and snipe a deer or coyote, providing it was legal. I’m sure the home owners across the street would frown on that. As I stood there takingin the view I happened to catch some movement in the cat tails and out walked this large coyote. He wasn’t more than 200 yards from a major road and homes but there he was, trotting along like he didn’t care.

After that stop I checked out one more area which I had already planned on making my last stop of the day. I just figured it would be around 5 pm, not 2. I got out to check it out but it was more of the same, low water and slush. I talked to one other steelheader (bagger) and he said he got one but he had been at it all morning and trying to get a decent drift in between all the ice flows was damn near impossible. After I finished checking out the area I stripped off my waders, put on some jeans and headed back home. I’ll try another day.